Electronic devices may include a variety of sensors and inputs to monitor and infer relative device position. For example, based on input received by a WiFi sensor, a device can measure Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) or Round Trip Time (RTT) to infer device position relative to one or more wireless access points. In another example, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) can be used to determine device position.
Data collection servers may process and redistribute position information collected by electronic devices (e.g., crowd sourcing). However, always on data collection by electronic devices may consume limited device resources while providing data to the data collection server. For example, when the device is a mobile device that uses battery power, data collection can consume some of the limited battery resource of the device as one or more sensors gather data. Furthermore, data reporting out to a collection server can also consume limited wireless bandwidth resources. For example, users may have a data bandwidth cap and may be charged excess usage fees when data use exceeds the cap. Therefore, users may be hesitant to allow their devices to provide unrestricted data reporting to data collection servers.
The cost of data collection can impact data collection servers as well as clients or connected devices. For example, too much traffic to a server can consume a server's bandwidth and excess data may not add value commensurate with the cost of a large unmanaged data flow. Blind data collection can be wasteful and expensive especially when multiplied by many client devices. If the server becomes overwhelmed with connections, incoming and outgoing data may be dropped and the user experience at the device may be negatively impacted.